[ale] Cobb Laptop Deal

[Geoffrey]

Christopher Fowler wrote:
> On Mon, 2005-08-15 at 18:17 -0400, Geoffrey wrote:
> 
>>Computers can be used as a good educational tool just as books, chalk 
>>boards, white boards, overhead projectors..... are.  In a lot of
>>cases 
>>they are.
> 
> <geek alert>
> 
> In high School I wrote a Quick Basic application to teach French.  It
> would basically give you a french word and you would pick the english
> equivalent. It could also do the reverse.  On top of that it did the
> same with French phrases.
> 
> The problem I had was data.  I had no way to input all that data.  I
> found a shareware program that taught French and wrote a conversion tool
> in QB that would convert its DB format to my DB fomat. Whamo I had
> thousands of French words in my DB.
> 
> Without computers in my school I would probably not be doing Linux
> today.  Back then that was the only way to get access.  I had a cousin
> with a Tandy and I had a TRS-80 but those were only good for small
> stuff.  In our computer class we actually had a TRS-80 file server.
> Everyone had the space of 1 track.  Not much.
> 
> On a side note we would play games in the library.  So not all computer
> stuff was educational.  
> 
> I think that every kid should have access to a computer lab.  not just
> the ones in computer class.  They can run programs on those computers to
> learn.  But the laptop idea is just crazy.  Laptops are fragile and kids
> are rough.  After the 90day or 1year warranty many vendors give these
> things are bound to break.  Almost all warranties cover basic wear and
> tear.  If Apple was to get the school locked in to MACs then they would
> have a steady revenue stream for years to come.

I agree completely with your assessment.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey